Autoblog

Standing in front of the Alfa Romeo display in Paris, we found ourselves in a bit of a conundrum. The big news from Alfa was, of course, the official worldwide show debut of the MiTo, and the stand was rife with them. But we've already brought you galleries of photos of the MiTo, and even flew all the way over to Italy to drive it. (For you, of course.) But a European car show wouldn't be a European car show without some shots of an Alfa Romeo. Fortunately the Italians were kind enough to oblige with a new, hotter version of the impossibly gorgeous Brera.

The Brera Ti picks up some of the improvements developed by British rally and racing concern Prodrive (yes, that Prodrive, the ones who field Aston Martin in Le Mans, Subaru in the WRC and brought Honda back into F1). The Ti gets a stiffened suspension, 8C-style 19-inch anthracite alloys and Brembo brakes, pumping up the go to accompany all that show which you can check out in the gallery below.

Click above for high-res gallery of the Alfa Brera S

We didn't need another reason to want an Alfa Romeo Brera, nor another excuse to ogle its breathtaking lines. But then Prodrive comes along, with all its racing and rallying know-how, and gave us the Brera S. The toughened-up version addresses some of the gorgeous coupe's performance shortfalls and makes us cry "it's not fair", because it isn't. A car so beautiful and now, thanks to David Richards and Company, so dynamically improved, should be ours, but unfortunately a little puddle called the Atlantic Ocean keeps that dream from becoming reality. So we'll just have to wait until Alfa Romeo finally makes the voyage Stateside, by which time the limited-edition Brera S will undoubtedly be all gone, and with good reason. We'll just have to console ourselves with this new batch of achingly gorgeous images, which we're glad to share with you in the gallery below.

And to think, VW/Audi is at the forefront of marketing its vehicles to LGBT audiences...

In the latest round of assigning sexuality to vehicles, the Audi RS4 has emerged as the "straightest" car around in the "Alternative Car of the Year" poll, conducted by Wheels24, a South African online automotive publication. Funny, we know quite a few gay guys who drive Audis.

Volkswagen made the cut as well, with its Jetta filling in the fourth spot in the poll. Toyota also racked up two placements in the "straight" column, with its Fortuner coming in second place and the Lexus IS250 rounding out the poll in fifth. Dodge's macho ads for the Caliber have also apparently paid off -- the "not cute" Neon replacement came in third.

To the likely disappointment of many Autoblog readers who have dubbed the MINI Cooper the gayest car in the comments section of our site, Wheels24 readers actually think the Peugeot 207 deserves the title instead, with the BMW 3-series coupe serving as the runner up. The Jaguar XK came in third, with the Honda Civic hatch and Alfa Romeo 159 coming in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Most individuals -- gay or straight -- can appreciate a nice rear end, so Wheels24 included that in its poll as well. Cars with the sexiest rear end include as follows:

1. Alfa Brera
2. BMW Z4 Coupe
3. Opel Astra GTC
4. Renault Clio
5. Nissan Tiida

[Source: Wheels24]

Auto Motor und Sport is postulating that the resurrected VW Scirocco will be here by 2008 and cost approximately 22,000 Euro, or around $28,000 US. At that price the Scirroco's main competition in Europe will be the beautiful Alfa Brera. The near future will be bring both these cars to the U.S., as well. The Scirocco's price also reveals that it will slot right between the Golf and new Eos hardtop convertible. If the accuracy of this rendering can be believed, we shouldn't expect the angularity of the original Scirocco to return along with the name.

[Source: Auto Motor und Sport]

The provocative title of this post refers to the Alfa Brera Spider, the drop top version of the Alfa Brera that was voted Most Beautiful Car in the World recently at the 21st annual International Automobile Festival. These pics have been released a full day before the coupe’s official debut and as such, we have no specs on the car nor insight as to how much it will cost. Still, we’re all for topless pics of anything crowned “Most Beautiful in the World.” Follow the jump for additional pics.

[Via Eurocarblog and Infomotori]

[Thanks to Luca for the tip]